Stage 3 limits may be avoided

By Colin McDonald :
June 25, 2013

Because of replenishing rains in the past month, the San Antonio Water System says Stage 3 restrictions — limiting landscape watering to once every other week — may be avoided this summer.

Hopes were spurred by the huge rainstorm at the end of May, followed by several smaller storms in early June.

With agricultural pumping expected to taper off in early July, the level of the J-17 monitoring well of the Edwards Aquifer may be able to stay higher than 640 feet above sea level, which is the trigger for Stage 3.

Before the storms, SAWS was preparing for Stage 4.

“But there is always a possibility that the Edwards could keep dropping” said Karen Guz, SAWS' director of conservation.

On Tuesday, the J-17 well dropped to 648 feet after falling more than a foot a day since Saturday, and it may continue to do so. There's no rain in the forecast, and temperatures this week are expected to be in the high 90s and may break 100.